It was refreshing to hear Doris Burke mention at the end of this broadcast that Fred VanVleet is playing exactly how you’d expect a guy seeking out his next NBA contract to play. VanVleet has a legit chance to be 100% completely financially set for life if he just plays really good for this one season. 82 games (or less, thanks to injuries) of nonstop grinding could net him twenty million dollars a year, and then he can take a little break and not go so hard all the time. That sounds like a great deal to me.
VanVleet’s already got the championship ring. If he combines that championship ring with a 20/7 season where he shoots 40% from three, there’s going to be a lot of teams who want to pay him a lot of money (especially because this free-agency class isn’t as star-studded as classes past). For example, the Pistons would love to throw max money at him just because. Every morning he wakes up, looks in the mirror, and says to himself “You gotta go out there and grind for your max contract.”
Meanwhile, every morning, I wake up, look in the mirror, and say to myself “You gotta go out there and grind for your sixty dollars a month from Patreon”. At least I don’t have to wake up early to go to practices or get on team flights or anything. And I don’t have any coaches or teammates yelling at me if I screw up. The worst that happens is that Japurri meows angrily at me if I forget to make Jabari highlights or something.